POLITECNICO DI TORINO Repository ISTITUZIONALE The role and management of physical space in social innovation Original The role and management of physical space in social innovation / Perello, Michelle. - (2017). Availability: This version is available at: 11583/2678524 since: 2017-08-24T16:35:09Z Publisher: Politecnico di Torino Published DOI:10.6092/polito/porto/2678524 Terms of use: Altro tipo di accesso This article is made available under terms and conditions as specified in the corresponding bibliographic description in the repository Publisher copyright (Article begins on next page) 04 August 2020 DOTTORATO DI RICERCA IN SISTEMI DI PRODUZIONE E DESIGN INDUSTRIALE CICLO XXVII Phd Thesis The role and management of physical space in social innovation Michelle Perello Tutor: Prof. Alberto de Marco Coordinator: Prof. Maurizio Galetto A Giulietta, Gabriel e Alessandro. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................1 I - Research objectives ......................................................................................................................................3 II - Research methodology ...............................................................................................................................4 Chapter 1 – Social innovation IN LITERATURE ................................................................................................6 1.1 The evolution of innovation .......................................................................................................................6 1.2 Social innovation in literatures: a quasi-concept ........................................................................................8 1.3 Social innovation in social theory: social change and social impact ........................................................12 1.4 Social innovation in economics: the role of social entrepreneur ..............................................................13 1.5 Social innovation and management: the primacy of social value .............................................................15 1.6 Social innovation and social entrepreneurship: overlapping concepts? ...................................................16 1.7 Social innovation and design thinking......................................................................................................17 1.8 Drivers and characteristics of social innovation .......................................................................................18 CHAPTER 2: SOCIAL INNOVATION: THE PRACTICE ..............................................................................23 2.1 Social enterprises in Europe: European and national definitions .............................................................23 2.2 Social enterprise activity in Europe ..........................................................................................................25 2.3 Business models in social enterprises in Europe ......................................................................................26 2.4 Legal forms adopted by social enterprises and modes of creation ...........................................................28 2.5 Policy framework in Europe: Europe 2020, Social Innovation Initiative and Social Business Initiatives ........................................................................................................................................................................29 2.6 Social innovation projects in Europe ........................................................................................................31 Services typology .......................................................................................................................................33 Projects focused on space and shared spaces .............................................................................................35 3. SOCIAL IMPACT..........................................................................................................................................52 3.1 The current discourse on social impact ....................................................................................................52 3.2 From performance measurement to social impact measurement .............................................................53 3.3 Metrics for social impact measurement ....................................................................................................56 3.4 Practical experiences of social impact assessment: the case of Ashoka ...................................................58 4. THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL SPACE IN SOCIAL INNOVATION PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES ........61 4.1 Physical proximity and tacit knowledge ...................................................................................................61 4.2 From physical proximity to “innovative spaces” .....................................................................................65 4.3 Physical space from the practitioners point of view .................................................................................69 4.4 Emergence and diffusion of shared spaces: the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto .......................73 5. CASE STUDIES ............................................................................................................................................78 5.1 Case studies selection ...............................................................................................................................78 5.2 Yalla Trappan (Sweden) ...........................................................................................................................78 5.3 Piano C (Italy) ..........................................................................................................................................87 5.4 Spazio Giardini Margherita (Italy) ...........................................................................................................93 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................................................100 Bibliography .....................................................................................................................................................105 ANNEXES .......................................................................................................................................................114 Interview with Christina Merker-Siesjö (Yalla Trappan) .............................................................................114 Interview with Riccarda Zezza (Piano C) .....................................................................................................121 Interview with Sofia Borri (Piano C) ...........................................................................................................127 Interview with Nicoletta Tranquillo (Spazio Giardini Margherita) ..............................................................136 INTRODUCTION This thesis aims at exploring the role of physical spaces in social entrepreneurship and innovation projects in Europe. In particular, the research aims at investigating how often the management of physical space recurs in social innovation projects and initiatives in Europe, what are business models behind “space-centered” social innovation projects, and what is the social impact generated by those projects. Social innovation has gained prominence in the last decade both in terms of new initiatives promoted but also as priority in national and European policy agendas. Social innovation initiatives are quite diverse, being promoted by individuals or groups of citizens and may operate in the different fields – healthcare, family care, education, etc-. In all cases, social innovation projects propose new solutions to answer social needs and problems. Those solutions can be products, services, new production or delivery methods, new forms of organizations or of relations among social actors. As in traditional profit-driven businesses, virtual communication represent the main instrument for communication, collaboration, sharing of competences, experiences, ideas and projects. This is true also for most social innovation projects which rely on web-based solutions and social media for deployment of services, establishment of networks of partners and of users, or for the organization of work and social business. In parallel in the last decade, big corporate organizations started reconsidering the importance of physical proximity and of face-to-face interaction in enhancing creativity and work performance. As practitioner in European research projects and as founder and CEO of a small company, I also experienced the benefits of face-to-face collaboration and the limits of virtual communication. In 2009 I established a company specialized in the development and management of European funded research and innovation projects. Since its establishment, the company was structured around two offices, one in Brussels and one in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: as CEO I was travelling frequently from one location to the other. I realized that working at distance had a clear cost in terms of coordination but also of productivity and performance of the whole staff. I decided thus to move the core of human resources to one location only and I empirically observed the advantages of being